Page 147 of Of Serpents and Ruins
I cringed. That was a little harsh and obvious but to the point. Not that I really blamed him. He was trying to make sense of the Gola Resh’s words.
Those words were like a blow though.
Everyone’s eyes widened, and the denials flooded in. Shock filled all their faces. Hurt as well.
Brandt’s gaze rested too long on Hord as he scanned the group. "The Gola Resh said there was another traitor."
"You suspect me?" Hord’s voice deepened as he crossed his arms. "You doubt me?"
Brandt maintained his intense gaze. "She implied that it was you. That she offered to spare you and Cahji."
"So you doubt me?" Hord’s expression darkened.
"I could think of little more heartbreaking than to believe you capable of such betrayal, but I know you are a good man and a good father. You already lost Tanusa. How could you be asked to lose any more?" Brandt said, his voice tight. His attention remained fixed on Hord.
Hord lifted his square chin. His eyes flashed as he interrupted him. "If I had turned on you, I would not have brought him here with me. I would not have honored his request to fight for the salvation of Sepeazia. With all respect, do not dishonor me or the memory of my beloved by suggesting that I would tarnish everything I hold dear to save my own skin and my son. My sweet Tanusa laid down her life to save our future. The future of a Sepeazia vibrant and free. No such future exists under the Gola Resh. And…true though this may be, I have no way to prove it."
Brandt glanced back at me then, his jaw like marble. "Seer?"
My mouth went dry, but I lifted my chin. My own instincts flared clear. I didn’t examine them. I knew. And I spoke. "I trust him. I don’t think there are any more traitors among us. But there is torment that comes from doubting. The one strengthwe still have is one another." But something else bothered me in this. Something I couldn’t quite put my finger on yet. It reminded me of the jealousy that had started to grow within me about Candy. Elias had tended those seeds well, but it had had the potential to sow dissension among us. And Hord, like Candy, was innocent. I was sure of it.
Brandt nodded slowly. His expression suggested he was still concerned. In fairness, there was little damage that Hord could do at the moment if he was a traitor, since Kine was not letting that spear out of his hands and Tile held the reagents.
"I apologize, Hord—" Brandt started.
Hord shook his head. Though his lips were pressed in a tight line and his brow furrowed, he spoke firmly. "The Gola Resh is the cause of this heartache and grief. It would be foolish of you to not at least question after she spoke. Had she offered to spare Cahji and me, I would have spit in her face." He gestured toward the now yellow-orange charm at Brandt’s throat. "By the look of it, we don’t have much time left to debate this matter."
Some of the tension and unease faded then. It still didn’t feel quite right, but there was no longer a heaviness. We’d narrowly avoided another one of her traps, but what else awaited us? What else could she do in the little time that remained?
Brandt dipped his head forward in acknowledgment and gestured toward the camp. "Let’s prepare to enter the Ember Lord’s Crest. You said Elias attacked. Tell me everything."
"Elias has at least fifty in his faction," Hord said. "I suspect there are more inside. We keep trying to send out messages for reinforcements, but we’ve exhausted our eagles, pterosaurs, and every other option. Every time we’ve tried to send one up, it’s been shot down. Whatever the Gola Resh has done, our magic is muted here. We can’t even swim out. There’s a barrier. You can get in, but you can’t get out."
Even with the crew of our ship and the dinosaurs, we were badly outnumbered. My heart sank.
"What else?" Brandt demanded gruffly.
Hord explained swiftly, with interjections from the others. This wasn't just going to be a battle against a supernatural entity that was amorphous and couldn't be stabbed until the end of the ritual when she became corporeal. It would be a bloody battle against our own flesh and blood as well.
I brought my hand up and pushed my hair back from my face as the reality settled in. We were going to have to fight Sepeazians too. My guts clenched again. I hated the Gola Resh. It wasn’t enough that she was draining our life away. She was going to make us kill our own people. She and the Babadon were twisted. She must have promised to spare those who fought with Elias. Was it a lie though? We were all tied to Sepeazia’s life force. Her magic and the Babadon’s was so far beyond us that perhaps there was a way. But something was off about it.
As I mulled this over and the others prepared our strategy, Cahji ran over and hugged me, mended spear in hand. He was so much taller than I remembered, all gangly limbs, with big silver eyes and thick silver hair. His mother’s coloring with his father’s features.
He looked down at me, an expression of shy awe on his face. "You didn’t really change," he said. He held his hand up though as if measuring my height, then laughed.
That stirring of familiarity swept over me. The tears that rose up almost choked me. "You did though. Look at you. You’re so tall!"
He ducked his head, his smile crooked. That smile was his mother’s and almost too big for his face. "I’m glad I get to fight with you for Sepeazia," he said. His gaze darted to his father.
Hord nodded, his posture still tight. But there was pride in his gaze.
Pride swelled in my own heart as well. These were my people. And they were good.
In the moments that followed, we made our plans. Tile and Candy had brought forces with them, though only three arcanists and five warriors had survived Elias’s onslaught. Of the six that Hord and Cahji brought, only two had survived. We had twelve crewmen who were capable of fighting. Most of the weapons had survived Elias's attack.
Arjax and Lorna moved among our little—were we enough to count as an army?—and anyone who had a shifting ring, they took and remedied. Both shook out their arms as they finished, the energy sparking along their hands a little more muted than before. The wounded were able to use the shifting energy from the rings then to heal themselves.
As we finalized everything and the arcanists prepared the shields to protect us from the volcano’s heat and strength, I broke free and slipped over to Kine. He had been avoiding me, and I had not made nearly as much of an effort to reach him because I had been focusing on Brandt. Now I realized, as dear as Brandt was to me, I shouldn’t have left him by the wayside.
